Oh.My.Crave.Yum.

I am MAJORLY Craving Magic Bars! If you don't know what these are, you're missing out! lol. Magic bars are ewwy chewwy deliciousness.

They're cookie bars filled with toffee, chocolate and butterscotch chips, coconut and sweetened condensed milk baked all together.

My mom usually makes these every Christmas and that's pretty much the only time I eat them in the year...but I have 10months until then of waiting! Maybe I can convince her to make them sooner... ;)
OR I just might have to make them myself!

You should visit Cookies & Cups who has an excellent easy tutorial on how to make them, filled with yummy photos!

[Image from Eaglebrand's Magic Bars who's recipe is also yummy.]





















.....mouth watering..yummmmm.....

Any Leap Year Birthdays?

It's February 29th, a Leap Year! I wonder how many people have this Leap Year Birthday?!

Well we get an extra day of February to do what we want with it..So if you could do anything this day, what would you have done? Or did do?


I'm not doing anything big...though I wish I was! I think I'll spend the day eating Lucky Charms and watching Quantum Leap and Leap Year :)



Check out this great cartoon from CartoonADay

























And here's some great facts on Leap Year HERE :) Enjoy!

Fight Heart Disease: Red Dress Pin

I received the American Heart Association, red dress pin to remind me to help fight heart disease!

The pin is beautiful...














Makes me feel like I need to buy a nice new black casual jacket to wear it on :)



Dr Seuss And Our Target Goodie Bag.

Dr Seuss is having a birthday on March 2nd! Always makes for a fun week of reading Dr Seuss books and having a party on his birthday.

A few days ago, on the 25th, we went to Target's book reading and got a great goodie bag filled with all kinds of love!





*An awesome Lorax book bag which held all the goodies
*Chickadee crackers
*Apple Juice Box (not pictured)
*Fruit snacks
*Target Napkin
*Laundry & Book Coupons
*Lorax Bookmark with wearable mustache :)
*A photo of Truffella trees for lil one to color each time a book is read
*Stickers
*Crayons
*And pictures to color & craft with!


Me and my lil man will be enjoying our Dr Seuss day by doing crafts and enjoying the fun!



Homemade Parsley Tea

I was watching Dr. Oz the other day and he was giving some tips on homemade anti aging recipes, one being for tired, aging eyes. His tip was to use parsley tea in the form of ice cubes to rub beneath your eyes to help stimulate them and reduce eye baggage and tiredness.

Me, being a young mom, and not getting enough sleep, 
I feel I am getting those tired age-ey eyes.. :/ So I wanted to give this a shot!

I searched the store for Parsley tea but never found any so I thought I'd make it myself. 
Seemed simple enough.

I began by buying fresh parsley at the grocery store. Washed it all up and cut the stems off. Placed the parsley on a cookie sheet and dried it out in the oven at 200 degrees. The timing differs per oven, but for my oven it took approximately 45-50 minutes. The smell of baking parsley was surprising to my nose... a slightly similar smell to stinky drain pipes so you will want some good ventilation lol. Once the parsley was all dried out, I put it into a sandwich baggy and sealed it up to start crunching it. Also to save it for later. But if you plan on storing parsley for a longer time, 
I would suggest keeping it in a glass container to keep it fresh.



I put about 3 spoons of the dried parsley into my tea infuser 
and poured in enough boiling water to cover to the top and I let it sit for the day.
 

Once it sat, I then poured the tea into my ice cube tray and let it freeze.


 

 I've tried the ice, once under my eyes so far...And it's cold! lol...
we'll see if it does anything. You're welcome to try this out, and if you do, 
please let me know how it works for ya! :)

You can also drink the tea warmed, with some lemon and honey added in. 
Parsley has a lot of other health benefits as well!

Happy National Pancake Day!

Today, February 28th is National Pancake Day!!

While some people are going to IHop for FREE Pancakes...I made my own!

Delicious pancakes, filled with chocolate chips and topped with sprinkles!








Don't they look delicious? Bet you wish you came to my house today for pancakes, instead of IHop ;)












Cuz then you could've chilled with Mr. Pancakes....




...yeah...

Let's Rally For Pizza! Freschetta Pizza!!

It's Time to "Rally for Real Pizza!"

Lets Boycott and Fight for Flavor, pledge to serve only the freshest frozen pizza - FRESCHETTA® pizza?! Haha.

February 27, 2012 through March 30, 2012 Freschetta is doing the Rally for Real Pizza!

You can submit a photo to a Rally Mosaic on their Facebook Fan Page for a chance to win FRESCHETTA® pizza. Each week, they will be selecting 100 winners to receive 5 FRESCHETTA® pizzas. And on March 30, they will select 10 winners who will receive a year supply of FRESCHETTA® pizza!


You can check it out on their Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/Freschettapizza



FREE Pancakes on 2/28!

February 28th is National Pancake Day!!

And to celebrate...IHop is giving away free stacks of pancakes! It would be nice to leave a donation at IHop as well, for the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals© and other designated local charities that IHop is raising money for :)




I Won A Green Package From Recyclebank!

I got a great package from Recyclebank because I was an Autumn Winner in their "Green Your Seasons Contest"!!

In my package, I received:

1 box of Bio Bags tall kitchen waste bags
1 box of Ziploc sandwich bags
1 box of Ziploc snack bags
1 VersaGlass container
A KidsKonserve Food Kozie
A pack of child & a pack of Adult Sample of SmartyPants vitamins
A $15 Abe’s Market Gift Card (items to come)
And a Wishprints 5X7 Greeting Card


















Lots of great stuff!



Jewelry Box Revamp

I'm excited about this because I've always wanted to revamp:restore:re-do -whatever word you want to use- A piece of furniture! And I've finally done it. I'm starting out small, first to see if I really like it (and I do! It is a great substitute for painting walls since I can't in the apartment! :D) Also, I wanted to see if it's too difficult to want to finish. Well, I finished this piece and it feels great :)

I started off with this ugly old Jewelry box-just not my style
I used Easy Liquid Sander Deglosser because I've heard great reviews on this product, which doesn't require the tough sanding! It doesn't work as well as I imagined it would, but it seems doable for now :) I'm glad I can use it indoors and it's not as time consuming. It does however, come out faster then I'd like. You pour it into a lint free cloth and rub it on the piece, in a circular motion.
Here's the Jewelry box with it's 1st coat of paint:

I painted several coats on this baby...I lost count after the 4th coat!

But here is the finished product and I am pretty pleased.


My first furniture revamp! Can't wait for my next project, 



Future Fortified And Their Great Campaign

Sad to say, I missed the "sign-up date" to work with MomCentral on this amazing cause, but I don't think that means I can't blog about it! :)

MomCentral is working with Future Fortified, which is a global campaign made to help millions of women and children around the world, giving them the ability to gain access to the essential nutrients they need to lead healthy, enriched lives. Future Fortified's mission is to prevent malnutrition in under-nourished countries and their goal is to increase access to improved nutrition for 50 million women and children by 2015. They will be providing Nutrition packets that can be sprinkled onto local foods made in the home, expanding access to nutrition-at just $.03 per packet, making it available at pharmacies and kiosks and are affordable to low-income consumers.


I think this is a great campaign and I really hope they can reach their goal and BEYOND by 2015! You can donate on their site at https://donationpay.org/gain/. We all want to see the hungry, fed, and happy. Every amount helps.












(images from FutureFortified)



The 4 Wooden Heroes

I purchased some unfinished wooden gingerbread men shapes from Michael's and painted them up as Super heroes!! My son loves them and I think they turned out pretty cute too :)





My Homemade Art + Living Room

I've been trying to spice up my home with colors and here's some bathroom diy's I've done.

Polka dots on wall-made from coasters with some paint

Bought these mats at Target for super cheap


Made this myself. Painted an old wooden frame white, background is a gift bag and used some silhouette birds and confetti for design.


And here's my living room. The canvas I made :)


So I posted before on needing color in my living room..how do you think it looks in here? On the side wall is the computer desk and chair which im fine with and on the other wall not posted, it has framed photos (black frames) with a FAMILY decal in between em and a 42inch tv on a nice stand...& a small dvd stand for our dvds and stuff. Im pleased with that side..just hope my living room looks inviting and colorful enough. I really want to replace the couch pillows-once I find new ones.. :) And the white chair over there, I can't decide if I want to keep it there or not-(its not there at this moment lol)

Valentines Day 2012

So many fun things to do on Valentine's Day... We started out the day eating heart shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast with strawberries, pink yogurt with pink sprinkles, and strawberry milk to drink. Later, we did some crafting, making hearts with a toilet paper tube... cutting, coloring, and putting together a heart man...a fun sensory bin full of red items..and more! Then we played some games! Using the heart man my son made earlier, we played Pin the Mustache on Mr. Mustache, using felt mustaches I cut out. Then we played Throw the pom poms into bottles, made cookies, and chocolate covered strawberries...and just had an overall good day! Oh ya,  I decorated the night before, and painted my fingernails to match :)





I would love to hear about your Valentine's Day!!

 

Drawings That Melt My Heart

Lil man hasn't drawn in quite a few weeks because he got into his "Bioncle's" lol (for anyone who doesn't know what these are, they're like giant Lego guys lol) So we recently decided it's time to put a limit on playing with them...so during his rest time, he decided to draw some pictures. He drew about 5 different images. Us as a family, daddy, daddy sleeping, him going down stairs, and my ultimate favorite one....me and him looking at a fish in the pet store (we're contemplating getting him a pet fish :) ) and as he shows me this picture, he laughs pointing to my belly in the photo and asks "Know what's in there?" I say what, and he says "my baby sister!" he's so sweet. Someday he will get his little sister :)

Ghirardelli Chocolate: Milk Truffle Review!

As I had previously posted, I would get to try out the new, Milk & Truffle Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares, from Shespeaks. My chocolate arrived on Valentines Day! How perfect is that?!
These chocolates are delicious! The truffle inside the chocolate is so milky and creamy..Heavenly! Their flavor is rich and it "hits the spot" (as one of the people I shared it with said!) :) I'm a sucker for chocolate so I am beyond happy that I got to try these chocolates out. They really are dreamy.

In the package, I also received two $1 off coupons to get MORE delicious chocolates!

Thank you SheSpeaks for letting me try the Ghirardelli Milk Truffle chocolates.. I am in love ♥

An Alphabet Trip to the Limerick Zoo E-Book Review


I got to review the e-book of "An Alphabet Trip to the Limerick Zoo AND Companion Coloring Book" through Tomoson.com I found it kind of..interesting. The book is the ABC's full of limericks, which is cute, but some words I felt, were a little too big and hard to understand for kids. I like that they are teaching things about the animal, inside the limerick, and some of them are even humorous. The drawings are unique, I think the child getting to color while listening, will help keep them interested in hearing the limerick stories. Homeschooling parents may like this for teaching their kids. My son is 4 and wasn't too interested in it though.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Princreigns Ingrown Hair Serum


Princereigns Ingrown Hair Serum is the #1 Hair Serum made to get rid of ingrown hairs and razor bumps caused by shaving and/or waxing. It is made up of all natural ingredients such as Aloe Vera, Eucalyptus, Chamomile, Sage, Lavender, Vitamin E, and Citrus Oils. The gel is said to soften and straighten the hair follicle, preventing future ingrown hairs, all while removing dark spots and blemishes without clogging any pores, leaving you with a smooth and clear complexion!

I was given the chance to try out Princereigns Ingrown Hair Serum and have been mildly satisfied with it. I've used it for a bout a month now and have noticed some results, but not the full, in detail as they put it. It has gotten rid of the bigger hair bumps I would usually get from shaving, but instead, I have been getting smaller, less painful hair bumps. I have noticed my skin to be somewhat smoother, and will continue to use this til it is all gone. It may be that, the longer you use it, the more noticeable results you'll see. My husband has also tried this out, on his face after shaving, and he has noticed the large hair bumps have disappeared, but smaller ones came in. Not quite leaving our skin flawless as said to.

Seems like an alright product so far, 
but time will tell if it continues to get better!

If you would like to try out your very own Princereigns Ingrown Hair Serum, leave me a comment with your email address 
and I will pick a winner!

                                 
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.


Sponsored by Tomoson.com